Brandon Flowers' doctor speaks.
The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers walked offstage during a concert at Red Rocks, Denver - and then cancelled the band's next two shows - after complaining of a throat infection. The Killers have had to rescheduled gigs in Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles’ KROQ Weenie Roast in September.
The trouble started during The Killer's 17 May performance at Red Rocks when Flowers abruptly left the stage after just three songs. The band followed shortly afterward. Ten minutes later, drummer Ronnie Vanucci returned to tell the 9,500 capacity crowd: "We're coming back to make this up tenfold for you."
The band later issued a statement that Flowers was suffering from bronchitis. The Killers tour doctor Dr Buzz Rentman told Q: "He's been singing in hot climates. We came here and it suddenly got cold. His voice just closed down. There was no way to predict it."
Websites speculated whether Flowers was the suffering from Epstein Barr virus, a member of the herpes family of human viruses that causes infectious mononucleosis. Symptoms include fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands.
"I get sick a lot," Flowers said in an interview earlier this year. "I have what's called Epstein-Barr. It's like a disease, but it's not. I have a real weak immune system. If somebody sneezes, it's over. I get it. It makes me real weak sometimes, too,"
When Q met with Flowers before the Denver show the singer was in desultory mood, complaining of tiredness. He also grumbled about the largely negative US reaction to The Killers recent album, Sam's Town.
"The album has been ripped to shreds so much in America, " he said. "I said I was into Bruce Springsteen and now people think we are trying to be Bruce Springsteen. This fucking pisses people off! I don't why. In America, people are upset about it. I just want to make the next album and not mention what is in my CD player."
He also expressed admiration for music’s second biggest Bruce Springsteen fans: Arcade Fire.
"I think the Arcade Fire's second album [Neon Bible} said everything I wanted to.
They put me down. They said it. I lack the vocabulary."
Flowers also reacted to the news that openly gay singer Rufus Wainwright had sung that he "tasted of potato chips in the morning" in a song from his new album Release The Stars.
"That is a fantasy," laughed Flowers. "I am honoured I guess. My wife would know more about that than Rufus." - Andrew Pemberton
Here's a Youtube clip from Denver, featuring some very hacked off gig goers.
11:38 AM | 23/05/2007
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I liked the Killers first CD, The latest one is crap and I tend to think they are just another overhyped, undertalented, US band like Fall Out Girl, Panic at the disco, and other hundred or so of the same type churned out for the moronic teens of the USA.
Posted by jeff mack at 12:08 AM | 27/05/2007 | Report Abuse
I liked The Killers first album Hot Fuss but there second album Sam's Town is even better. You can't compare them to cheesy bands like Panic at the Disco or Fall Out Boy or any of the many other bands that sound like them as there music sounds nothing like that annoying drivel. The Killers are one of the few genuinly talented and original bands from America at the moment.
Posted by Charlene at 4:10 PM | 28/05/2007 | Report Abuse
They don't sound like FOB or PATD but they are equally as crappy!!! The Shins and Decemberists and Midlake are much more worthy US bands than them,
Posted by jeff mack at 10:35 PM | 28/05/2007 | Report Abuse
you shouldn't say that an album is bad just because it's a totally different style from a previous album and because you didn't expect it.
Posted by annie at 12:42 AM | 29/05/2007 | Report Abuse
The Killers two albums sound completely different, and they would be recieving more bad press if the two albums sounded exactly the same.......speaking from an outside cultures perspective......hot fuss sounds british......sam's town sounds american...so i can't work out why it's america thats giving them the grief.
Posted by Paul Semas at 1:50 PM | 29/05/2007 | Report Abuse
The killers new album isn't bad because it is a different style from the first it is just not very good by my standards. They aren't even a good rock band, as far as expectations I had none because I could care less what they put out!!
Posted by jeff mack at 10:52 PM | 30/05/2007 | Report Abuse
That is so funny, you can hear me screaming on that video, i must have only been a row or two away. sadly, its me cussing, but hey. it was disappointing at Red Rocks, but it will be good in September. As for the second album, i enjoyed it. And since when have most American music listeners and critics had good taste. most kids today know nothing but rap and zip about rock, so piss on their shitty reviews and misguided opinions.
Posted by Taylor Shull at 7:02 AM | 31/05/2007 | Report Abuse
The rescheduled show in Seattle was amazing! They are truly performers that give the crowd what they want. I loved Hot Fuss immensely. Sam's Town took me a while to warm up to, but after seeing them play the tracks live, it's given me a further appreciation for the album and I've been playing it non-stop.
Posted by Jason Gilmore at 6:11 PM | 01/06/2007 | Report Abuse
I also like The Shins and The Decemberists aswell as The Killers. Peoples tastes are just different. I still don't think it's fair to compare The Killers to Panic at the Disco or Fall Out Boy as they are run of the mill pop bands. Even if you don't like The Killers they are still more original and interesting than them.
Posted by Charlene at 8:39 PM | 01/06/2007 | Report Abuse
None of you realise how much being on the road takes it out of you. If I paid to see them in Denver I would have been disapponted, but would have totally understood. I think that the American music press is seriously stuck up it's own backside. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention names of publications here, so I won't, but everyone is trying to be so postmodern. It's interesting how the UK and the US music press gave Sam's Town completely different ratings. The American music press needs to seriously lighten up, and balance their extreme cerebration with a bit of taking into account how music makes you feel. Personally, I love Sam's town. I think both albums are great. I think bashing a band for saying that they sound like someone is pretty irrelevant because everyone, at the end of the day, is the sum of their influences, including The Beatles. Sam's Town is an ambitious album whith a hugely expansive sound and a wry sense of humor sorely lacking in most of todays American music.
Posted by Jean Grobler at 10:24 PM | 01/06/2007 | Report Abuse
Es verdad, su segundo album suena diferente, pero no debemos tratarlos despectivamente por eso. Todavia sigo sorprendido como el primer dia cuando me entere que eran de los Estados Unidos, nada que ver con esas bandas de jovenes que no tienen ningun futuro. Aguante The Killers! y los espero en Argentina en Octubre
Posted by Axel Rikard at 8:40 PM | 02/06/2007 | Report Abuse
The Killers is a band that is placed in a different league than the rest of the US recents craps like Fall Out Boy, Panic At The Disco etc., these guys really can play and both albums sound great for me, so stop to compare this great band with those tenny scumbags.
Posted by Davide at 12:01 AM | 04/06/2007 | Report Abuse
Charlene and Davide you are right about thr Killers being better than FOB and PATD and other similar crap US bands. I have seen them live and they weren't happening (maybe they had a bad night!) I guess it comes down to personal taste ,i just prefer bands with a little more edge. It's not fair of me to make you upset if I don't dig them, you can dig them it's your choice. Maybe the next CD will do something for me as for the new one..... oh well.
Posted by jeff mack at 11:30 AM | 04/06/2007 | Report Abuse
i think that hot fuss is the better album, but recently whilst re-listening to sam's town i discovered that it isn't crap and better then the first one, it's just different. comparing them to fall out boy and panic!at the disco just doesn't work. brandon's voice holds up much better against the music and doesn't sound like pubescent whining.
Posted by amy barnes at 11:28 AM | 08/06/2007 | Report Abuse
It works beause they are contemporary US bands. The Killers are better but when you compare them to the contemporary Briitish bands they are nowhere near them(Monkeys,Klaxons,Babyshambles,Bloc Party etc...)
Posted by jeff mack at 10:39 PM | 12/06/2007 | Report Abuse
I love all of the killers albums, but i think they are very different so they shouldnt really be compared to each other. The killers really are an amazing band, but most of all incredible song writers, i dont think they get enough acknowledgement for that. I wish people would stop sayin sams town is crap when it is a truly amazing, patriotic album, i also wish people wouldnt compare them to fob or patd grrrr
Posted by beth campbell at 5:06 PM | 22/09/2008 | Report Abuse
I love Hot Fuss but I love Sam's Town even better. Yeah, they're deifferent but if they would have made an album more similar to Hot Fuss everybpdy wpuld be bitching about that instead.
I love Sam's Town so much I can't even pick my favorite track.
Posted by Jackjack at 4:40 PM | 01/03/2009 | Report Abuse
мм... неплохо ..
Posted by broarpDaw at 3:12 AM | 04/04/2009 | Report Abuse
Anyone who says they're in the same league as FOB and all that shit is sadly mistaken and needs their ears and perhaps even their brain checked. Go back to listening to your coffee drinking, pot smoking music everyone agrees is good, you elist. BTW, The Shins are fantastic.
Posted by K at 6:46 PM | 19/05/2010 | Report Abuse
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